If the killing of Pakistan's first Prime Minister Liaqat Ali Khan in 1951 paved the way for military rule for most of the next 60 years in the country, the killing of Benazir Bhutto now, is no less ominous. It is not a mere coincidence that she fell to the assassin's bullet only a few metres away from the place where Liaqat Ali was killed at Liaqat Bagh in Rawalpindi.
The killing has put a big question mark on whether Pakistan can move forward to establish democracy in the country, a challenge Benazir had accepted despite all odds. There is a strong feeling that it will not be an easy course, hereafter. As the New York Times points out, assassinations are absorbed in democracies as happened with Indira Gandhi, but Pakistan is not a democracy.
The Army and the ISI are so deeply entrenched in Pakistan's power politics that they will never allow a civilian rule to take over. There are already suspicions about who killed Benazir. The conflicting statements coming from Pakistani establishment, which look like a cover up, have strengthened these doubts. A number of analysts have held Pakistan Army and the intelligence agencies responsible for the killing. It is important to know who is behind the killing.
The judicial enquiry ordered by the Pakistan Government will never be credible, since President Musharraf has already destroyed the independence of the Judiciary in Pakistan by dismissing the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, along with half a dozen other Judges and putting them under house arrest.
That Benazir's killing should have taken place in the heart of Pakistan, Rawalpindi, which is the Garrison and ISI HQ as well, speaks volumes.
Baitullah Mehsud, head of the Taliban in Pakistan, whom Islamabad has named to be responsible for the assassination, has already denied the charge. The extent of terrorism in the country can be gauged by the fact that Mehsud is said to be commanding an Army of 20,000 terrorists in the Waziristan area.
So, on the one hand, the country is faced with large scale and deeply entrenched terrorists, a creation of Pakistan establishment itself, and, on the other hand, there is a strong Army and Intelligence Agencies reluctance to give up power. The ground is thus fertile for another phase of Marshall Law.
Both Musharraf and the US are in an unenviable position. Both have come in for severe attacks from the people of Pakistan in the wake of Benazir's death. While Musharraf's lust for power has been obvious from the day one, the US policy to rely entirely on him, to fight terrorists in Pakistan and push it towards democracy has clearly failed. Pakistan today is heading towards anarchy, death and destruction. A nation's hope to come out of the clutches of the fundamentalists and terrorist outfits has been shattered.
Despite her earlier posture of having boosted militancy when she was in power, Benazir now was a changed person. She had vowed to fight terrorism and establish democracy in the country. She knew the risks involved, but plunged head long into the battle. This is evident from the email she had sent to her friend in the US in which she said that she had been made to feel insecure by Musharraf's minions. Her killing is a serious set back to Pakistan's future.
Ironically, Al-Qaeda, which has reportedly owned the responsibility of killing her, was rescued by Benazir herself, when it was in serious trouble in 1996. Its leader, Osama bin Laden, was rehabilitated in Jalalabad on the orders of Benazir when he was thrown out of Sudan. She got it done through Musharraf who then was the Director General of Military Operations.
Another irony associated with Benazir is that the mausoleum where she was buried at her native place in Larkana, Sindh, was ordered to be built by her. But the greatest irony will be that Benazir while in power did everything to prop terrorism and fight India , but when she realized that she was following a wrong path, destiny had some thing else in store for her. One can only hope that the change of heart of the first women Prime Minister of an Islamic nation will motivate others to follow, who think that violence alone can resolve issues.
Sarla Handoo, Syndicate Features
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